Wang Weike

Who was Wang Weike?

Wang Weike is a Chinese translator, the first to produce a complete Chinese translation of Dante's Divina Commedia.

He was a native of Jintan, Jiangsu Province. In 1917, he attended the Nanjing Hohai Engineering School. He was forced to leave the school, being an active participant of student activities. He then left for Shanghai to study natural sciences at Utopia University. After graduation, he went to Aurora University to study French. Back to his hometown, he taught in Jintan County Elementary Secondary School for one year. During this period of time, he became the patron of the future mathematician Hua Luogeng, who was to bear a lifelong gratitude towards him. In 1925, he went to Paris, and became one of the students of Madame Curie.

He returned to China in 1928, and taught at China Public School in Shanghai. One year later, he was back in Jintan, and got married. He served as the schoolmaster of Jintan County Elementary Secondary School, and employed Hua Luogeng, who was then poor and sick.

Beside Dante's epic, Wang also translated Kalidasa's famous play Sakuntala into Chinese.